Half Moon Bay hotel proposal met with community concern

The proposal aims to preserve wetlands identified on the west side of the project site, with plans to construct a bike and pedestrian path around them. Wetlands also require a 100-foot buffer zone but, according to the current design, certain parts of the hotel would fall within 75 feet of them.

Other areas on the parcel could also be considered wetlands, issues that will be fully addressed through the upcoming environmental review process and could impede the project.

Traffic was a primary focus of the discussion, with speakers and commissioners alike concerned not just about increased congestion from hotel guests and employees, but also safety along the Main Street side of the project site.

The project does propose additional parking beyond the city’s requirement devoted to coastal visitors, but for Chair Rick Hernandez, the parking layout poses aesthetic issues.

“My concern is having a project that’s dominated by parking,” he said. “It’s not what we want to see in Half Moon Bay, especially as a southern gateway.”

Aesthetic concerns extended well beyond parking.

“What gets done here will be people’s image of Half Moon Bay, the city starts here,” Commissioner John Evans said. “When I look at these drawings, I thought I was getting off the freeway in Vacaville going to a hotel, it’s the same look.”

Evans suggested breaking up the building into smaller ones and alternative building materials to better fit into its coastal location, and joined other commissioners in suggesting a smaller size for the project.

During the public comment period, speakers also worried about the cumulative impacts of this project and others on city resources, including water and sewer.

Commissioner Jimmy Benjamin sympathized with those concerns.

“I think these are illustrations of a flaw I’ve seen over the years in [environmental impact report]s that I hope doesn’t occur here and that is to take a framework of analysis that’s so small that we lose track of broader impacts it would have,” Benjamin said. “Let’s honor the public’s request to take a broad cumulative perspective.”

Despite these concerns, several speakers praised the project for bringing a mid-range hotel they said doesn’t exist in Half Moon Bay that would also bring tax revenue to the city and business to local retailers.

Feedback from the meeting will be addressed in the environmental impact report, a draft of which will be published for further input in the coming months.

“This is a great opportunity, but the project is going to need work and still has challenges fitting into the community,” Hernandez said.

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

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